Laugh It Off

Published: 2009.02.20 09:57 AM

Turns out, laughter is the best medicine.

For stress, for low energy, and even for an out-of-shape body.

Yes, laughing can be a good workout.

It’s no joke. It’s called laughter yoga, and classes mix deep breathing and yoga poses with laughter. After some warm-up stretching, instructors get the giggling going by having the class picture themselves in funny situations. One person starts and the laughing spreads like a contagious yawn through the class.

Laughing till your belly hurts works all the breathing muscles in your core, releases endorphins, and works your diaphragm from all the forceful exhaling – just like a good cardio session. Midway through, the 60-minute class slows down to focus on laughter meditation and then deep relaxation.

Instructor Yordana Mir is the only teacher on O‘ahu, and she trained with the program’s founder, Dr. Madan Kataria, a Mumbai physician who developed laughing yoga as an exercise form. She teaches a Wednesday evening class at Kapi‘olani Community College, but is offering a free class tonight at the lululemon athletica store at Ala Moana Center.

That not-so-tight tummy of yours?
It is a laughing matter after all.

A free laughter yoga class is tonight at 6:30 at the lululemon athletica store at Ala Moana Center. Call 808.946.7220 for more info. Yordana Mir also teaches a Wednesday evening class at KCC. Call 808.734.9315 for more info or to sign up for the new session beginning in March.

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Lei Chic is an email and shopping blog that plugs you into Hawai‘i’s newest and hottest boutiques, designers, trends, spas and salons, and more. You’ll also discover all the cool events, dinners and sales happening around town in our Weekend Picks every Thursday. With Lei Chic, you’ll get the inside scoop on what everyone will be talking about tomorrow—in your inbox today.

Lei Chic Editor Natalie Schack has been a cultural anthropology student, museum worker bee and dabbler in graphic design. When she isn’t scouting new fashion, compiling to-do lists or crafting puns, Natalie spends her free time dreaming up elaborate picnic ideas; “researching” via YouTube tutorials, blogs and Instagram; and dusting off her pith helmet for the next adventure life throws her way.